Method for constructing modular shelters using recycled land/sea shipping containers

ABSTRACT

A method of constructing modular, multi-use, enclosed shelters by recycling modular shipping containers, including the steps of determining a desired type of enclosed shelter module compatible with the dimensions of a modular shipping container, determining structural and functional components necessary for the selected type of enclosed shelter module, packing the structural and functional components into the modular shipping container, transporting the packed shipping container to a site selected for the enclosed shelter module, unpacking the structural and functional components from the shipping container, and assembling the structural and functional components into and onto the shipping container to convert the shipping container into the desired type of enclosed shelter module. Modular, multi-use enclosed shelters may be constructed by assembling a plurality of shipping containers converted into one or more types of enclosed shelter modules into a multi-element structure, wherein each element of the structure is comprised of a converted shipping container and the shipping containers are joined by means of the mechanisms normally provided to interlock multiple modular shipping containers during shipping.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention is directed to a method for constructingmodular shelters, such as residences or offices using recycled sea/landshipping containers for both the transportation of residential or officemodule building supplies and as the basic structure for a residential oroffice module and wherein various modules may be assembled to providemultiple interconnected residential or office spaces.

[0003] 2. Background of the Invention

[0004] There is a present and historic need for sturdy, relativelyinexpensive, readily shippable, enclosed, human inhabitable sheltershaving one or more interior spaces for housing, offices or otherpurposes that may be readily constructed by either skilled or unskilledlabor, that may be adapted to a wide range of purposes, sites andenvironments and that can readily survive the rigors of transportationunder a wide range of conditions. It is also preferable that suchshelters be at least capable of assuming a modular form having one ormore sets of standardized dimensions for facility in shipping. The reuseor recycling of elements, structures or materials, including thoseoriginally intended for other purposes is also desirable for economicand environmental reasons.

[0005] Such shelters may be employed for a wide range of purposes, suchas vacation homes, hunting and fishing lodges, wilderness shelters andtemporary or long term laboratory/medical/housing facilities,particularly in remote sites, and low cost housing and office space.Other exemplary applications include emergency housing, office andlaboratory facilities for areas effected by natural or man-madedisasters and short or long term housing, office and laboratoryfacilities in developing areas.

[0006] Another and apparently unrelated problem arises from the verycommon situation of trade shipment imbalances between countries or evenbetween areas of a country. That is, certain countries or locales, oftenthose offering low labor costs, tend to be sources of goods, most oftenincluding consumers goods such as vehicles, cars, furniture, electroniccomponents and products, food and flowers, while other countries orlocales tend to be importers of such goods and to ship a relativelysmaller volume of goods in return. Such situations commonly result in ashipping imbalance wherein “empties”, that is, the means by which thegoods are shipped, either accumulate at the receiving locale or shippedback empty to the source locale. The return of empty shipping containersis often regarded as uneconomical, whether the “empties” are packingcontainers, trucks, rail cars or ships. Therefore, and unless theinvolved industry has developed a specific method to deal with the costsof returning empties, such as carrying the return costs as part of theoriginal shipping costs or developing a return market to minimize thevolume of empty shipping, the “empties” tend to merely accumulate at thereceiving end. It will be recognized, therefore, that the non-return andaccumulation of “empties” represents a significant lost investment inraw materials and construction costs.

[0007] For example, a very common method of shipping goods by sea, railor truck is the use of “sea/land” containers, which are rugged,standardized containers that are typically multiples of 20 in length by8 feet wide and high with a pair of bolt latched doors at one end. Thecontainers include interlock mechanisms at each corner, thereby allowingthe containers to be stacked or otherwise securely joined to one anotheron, for example, the deck of a ship, on a railcar or on a truck, and aretypically constructed of heavy gauge steel. The accumulation of empty,unreturned sea/land shipping containers is a particularly significantproblem as the containers are manufactured in significant quantities andare sufficiently inexpensive to be commonly used in “one way” tradesbut, because of the number of containers involved in such trades,represent significant unrecovered value in both raw materials andconstruction costs

[0008] The present invention provides a solution to the apparentlyunrelated problems, and to other similar and related problems of theprior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention is directed to a method for recyclingmodular shipping containers to provide shelters wherein the methodsincludes the steps of determining a type of enclosed shelter compatiblewith the standardized, modular dimensions of a shipping container,determining structural and functional components necessary for theselected type of enclosed shelter, packing the structural and functionalcomponents into the shipping container, transporting the packed shippingcontainer to a site selected for the enclosed shelter, unpacking thestructural and functional components from the shipping container, andassembling the structural and function components into and onto theshipping container to convert the shipping container into the desiredtype of enclosed shelter.

[0010] The method of the present invention may further include theassembly of a plurality of shipping containers converted into one ormore types of enclosed shelters into a multi-element structure, whereineach element of the structure is comprised of a converted shippingcontainer and the shipping containers are joined by means of themechanisms normally provided to interlock multiple shipping containersduring shipping.

[0011] The present invention is also directed to a method ofconstructing modular, multi-use enclosed shelters, including the stepsof determining a desired type of enclosed shelter module compatible withthe dimensions of a modular shipping container, determining structuraland functional components necessary for the selected type of enclosedshelter module, packing the structural and functional components intothe modular shipping container, transporting the packed shippingcontainer to a site selected for the enclosed shelter module, unpackingthe structural and functional components from the shipping container,and assembling the structural and function components into and onto theshipping container to convert the shipping container into the desiredtype of enclosed shelter module.

[0012] Again, this method may be used to construct modular, multi-useenclosed shelters by assembling a plurality of shipping containersconverted into one or more types of enclosed shelter modules into amulti-element structure, wherein each element of the structure iscomprised of a converted shipping container and the shipping containersare joined by means of the mechanisms normally provided to interlockmultiple modular shipping containers during shipping.

[0013] Other features, objects and advantages of the present inventionwill be understood by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts afterreading the following descriptions of a presently preferred embodimentof the present invention, and after examination of the drawings,wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014]FIG. 1 is a general diagram of a Container 10, such as a sea/landshipping container;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the recycling of Containers10 into shelters;

[0016]FIG. 3A is a plan of a container recycled into an exemplaryshelter; and

[0017]FIGS. 3B and 3C are side plan views of containers recycled intoexemplary shelters.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Referring to FIG. 1, therein is shown a diagrammaticrepresentation of a Sea/Land Shipping Container (Container) 10 havingtwo Side Walls (Sides) 10S, two End Walls (Ends) 10E, a Top Wall (Top)10T and a Bottom Wall (Bottom) 10B. As is well known in the art, aContainer 10 is typically of standardized dimensions, such as multipleof 20 feet in length by 8 feet wide and 8 feet high, to permit thestacking and interlocking of multiple Containers 10, and is typicallyprovided with Interlocks 101 at each corner to allow stacked orotherwise arranged Containers 10 to be securely joined one to another.Also, one End 10E is typically comprised of a pair of hinged Doors 10Dsecurable by Lock Bolts (Bolts) 10L. Containers 10 are typicallyconstructed of heavy gauge steel and are thereby structurally strong andrugged and, together with the facility for securely locking theContainers 10 by means of Doors 10D and Bolts 10L, provide secureprotection to the contents of a Container 10 against a wide range ofenvironmental and physical rigors, including physical force, water andfire.

[0019] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the present invention provides a methodby which Containers 10 are recycled to provide sturdy, relativelyinexpensive, shippable, enclosed, modular shelters that may be used, forexample, for housing, offices or other purposes, that may be readilyconstructed by skilled or unskilled labor, that may be adapted to a widerange of purposes, sites and environments, and that can readily survivethe rigors of transportation under a wide range of conditions. Suchshelters may typically be designed and constructed for functions orpurposes requiring that they be human inhabitable for brief or extendedperiods, or may be designed and constructed for purposes whose primaryrequirement is other than human inhabitability, such as remote or localequipment shelters or storage facilities. It will also be noted that ashelter or structure based upon one or more Containers 10 do not requireextensive foundations, such as concrete foundations, due to the inherentstructural strength of the Containers 10. That is, Containers 10 do notrequire concrete or similar foundation walls as a primary component ofthe structural strength of the structure.

[0020] According to the present invention, and as described further inthe following, a Container 10 that has fulfilled its initial purpose;that is, the shipping of goods from one locale to another, is modifiedinto a Shippable Module 12 wherein the Container 10 is used both as theBasic Structure 14 of a Shelter Module 16, that is, to provide thewalls, roof and floor of the Shelter Module 16, and as the shippingContainer 10 for all Components 18 required to fit the Basic Structure14, that is, the Container 10, to the desired purposes as a ShelterModule 16.

[0021] Components 18 may include, for example, door or window units,exterior siding, interior wall and insulation panels, floor coverings,fixtures such as cabinets, sanitary facilities and so on, and utilitycomponents such as wiring and plumbing elements. Any of Components 18may be provided in a range of forms, depending upon the skill levels ofthe anticipated constructors. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3A,certain Components 18 may be provided in fully assembled, modular form,such as windows, doors, cabinets and sanitary fixtures such as toilets,basins and bath/shower units, requiring only that the units be put inplace, such as in an appropriate opening cut in a wall, and fixed inplace by a means suitable to the component and the assembler, such asnails, screws, bolts or adhesives. At least some utilities, such aspower wiring and plumbing, may also be provided and assembled as modularunits, assuming that the layout of the Shelter Module 16 is defined andknown before the Module 12 is assembled. In the same manner, interiorwall, roof, ceiling and floor components and insulation may be providedas pre-assembled modules requiring only that the modules be moved intoplace and installed by, for example, nails, screws or adhesives. Inother instances, certain interior Components 18, such as flooring,ceiling or wall components maybe installed when a Module 12 isoriginally assembled for shipment and, in other instances, andparticularly when more skilled workers are available, at least someComponents 18, such as wiring and plumbing elements or floor, ceilingand wall elements, may be provided as “raw materials” or basiccomponents rather than as modular, preassembled or preformed elements.In summary, the only fixed requirement imposed on the forms that may beassumed by Components 18 is that the Components 18 fit within the Module12. Otherwise the nature, type and form of Components 18 is determinedby the intended function of the Shelter Module 16, the expected ordefined environmental and site conditions, the skill of the availablework force, and so on.

[0022] As illustrated in FIGS. 3B and 3C, two or more of one or moretypes of Shelter Modules 16 may be assembled together using the cornerInterlocks 101 standard on Containers 10, such as Sea/Land containers,to lock the Shelter Modules 16 into the desired side-by-side and/orstacked configuration to thereby construct a Multi-Unit Structure 20 ofany desired configuration. Multi-Unit Structures 20 may include, forexample, an office unit comprised of multiple office units with akitchen/lounge/sanitary facilities unit or a housing unit comprised of akitchen/common room/sanitary facility and one or more sleeping orresidence units. The addition of one or more laboratory or clinic unitsto such a Multi-Unit Structure 20 would, in turn, create a clinic orresearch station, and so on, while the addition of Shelter Modules 16having other Components 18 could result, for example, in a prison orjail facility, a communications facility or a store, and so on.

[0023] For example, and as indicated in FIG. 3, when Shelter Modules 16are joined on a horizontal plane, interior passages between ShelterModules 16 may be provided by suitable matching openings made in theadjacent Shelter Modules 16 and door or door frame Components 18 in theopenings that mate to provide a passage sealed against the outsideenvironment. In a like manner, when Shelter Modules 16 are joined orstacked vertically, interior passages between vertically joining ShelterModules 16 may again be provided by suitable matching openings in theceiling of the lower unit and the floor of the upper unit and a stairwayComponent 18 installed for passage between the Shelter Modules 16. Inthe alternative, when desired or necessary, passage between verticallyjoining Shelter Modules 16 may be provided by means of exterior doorComponents 18 jointed by an exterior stair unit Component 18. Otherfacilities connecting between adjoining Shelter Modules 16, such asplumbing, sanitary connections, power or communications wiring andconnections, heat/ventilation/air conditioning ducting and so on may beprovided in a similar manner, that is, by matching openings made in theShelter Modules 16 with appropriate Components 18 to seal the openingsas necessary.

[0024] Lastly, a Module 12 may include drawings for assembly into aShelter Module 16 and verified according to local codes andrequirements. In an alternative, and particularly in regions lackingskill labor used to construction, guidelines for the assembly of aModule 12 into a Shelter Module 16 may be provided by, for example,stenciling on the interior surfaces to locate and dimension, forexample, window and door openings, the locations of interior elements,such as wiring, plumbing, interior divider walls, toilets, and so on. Inyet further alternatives, the required openings, mountings andassemblies may be made by medium to high level skilled workers using,for example, cutting torches, power saws and drills and so on. In theinstance of relatively low skill workers or a lack of appropriateassembly tools, some elements, such as window, door and plumbingopenings may be formed at the assembly of a Module 12 as “knock out”panels, making appropriate allowance for the rigors of transportationand assembly.

[0025] In conclusion, while the invention has been particularly shownand described with reference to preferred embodiments of the apparatusand methods thereof, it will be also understood by those of ordinaryskill in the art that various changes, variations and modifications inform, details and implementation may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover allsuch variation and modifications of the invention as come within thetrue spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for recycling modular shippingcontainers, comprising the steps of: determining a type of enclosedshelter compatible with the standardized, modular dimensions of ashipping container; determining structural and functional componentsnecessary for the selected type of enclosed shelter; packing thestructural and functional components into the shipping container;transporting the packed shipping container to a site selected for theenclosed shelter; unpacking the structural and functional componentsfrom the shipping container; and assembling the structural and functioncomponents into and onto the shipping container to convert the shippingcontainer into the desired type of enclosed shelter.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 for recycling modular shipping containers, further comprisingthe steps of: assembling a plurality of shipping containers convertedinto one or more types of enclosed shelters into a multi-elementstructure, wherein each element of the structure is comprised of aconverted shipping container and the shipping containers are joined bymeans of the mechanisms normally provided to interlock multiple shippingcontainers during shipping.
 3. A method of constructing modular,multi-use enclosed shelters, comprising the steps of: determining adesired type of enclosed shelter module compatible with the dimensionsof a modular shipping container; determining structural and functionalcomponents necessary for the selected type of enclosed shelter module;packing the structural and functional components into the modularshipping container; transporting the packed shipping container to a siteselected for the enclosed shelter module; unpacking the structural andfunctional components from the shipping container; and assembling thestructural and function components into and onto the shipping containerto convert the shipping container into the desired type of enclosedshelter module.
 4. The method of claim 3 for constructing modular,multi-use enclosed shelters, further comprising the steps of: assemblinga plurality of shipping containers converted into one or more types ofenclosed shelter modules into a multi-element structure, wherein eachelement of the structure is comprised of a converted shipping containerand the shipping containers are joined by means of the mechanismsnormally provided to interlock multiple modular shipping containersduring shipping.